National Training Facility for Hydrogen Safety. Five year plan for HAMMER

A suitably trained emergency response force is an essential component for safe implementation of any type of fuel infrastructure. Because of the relative newness of hydrogen as a fuel, however, appropriate emergency response procedures are not yet well understood by responder workforces across the United States and around the world. A significant near-term training effort is needed to ensure that the future hydrogen infrastructure can be developed and operated with acceptable incident risk. Efforts are presently underway at the HAMMER site in Washington State to develop curricula related to hydrogen properties and behavior, identification of problems (e.g., incorrect equipment installation) and appropriate response, and other relevant information intended for classroom instruction. In addition, a number of hands-on training props are planned for realistic simulation of hydrogen incidents in order to convey proper response procedures in high-pressure, cryogenic, high leakage or other high-risk accident situations. Surveys of emergency responders, fire marshals, regulatory authorities, manufacturers and others are being undertaken to ensure that the capabilities developed and offered at HAMMER will meet the acknowledged need. This paper describes the training curricula and props anticipated at HAMMER, and is intended to provide useful information to others planning similar training programs.